{"id":1051,"date":"2026-05-28T12:34:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1051"},"modified":"2026-05-28T12:34:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:34:38","slug":"mesa-couple-face-murder-charges-after-toddler-dies-due-to-burns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1051","title":{"rendered":"Mesa couple face murder charges after toddler dies due to burns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MESA, AZ (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A Mesa couple is accused of abusing and murdering a 22-month-old boy after he was burned and they refused to get him medical help.<\/p>\n

Read more Man accused of cornering child in Walmart store, sexually assaulting them<\/a><\/p>\n

Artnesia Aaliyah Baptist, 24, and her boyfriend, Alexsander Byrne, 21, were arrested in Phoenix Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Warning: Details are graphic. Reader discretion is advised.<\/h3>\n

Court documents said around April 3, the boy suffered severe burns that looked like they had been caused by hot or boiling water poured over his head, affecting 40% of his body, including his shoulders, neck, chest, back and hips.<\/p>\n

Police said Byrne discovered the burns and found \u201cbig chunks\u201d of skin peeling off during a diaper change.<\/p>\n

Baptist and Byrne both denied they knew how the victim got the burns but said they didn\u2019t seek medical help because they were afraid the Department of Child Safety would take the children, police said.<\/p>\n

Baptist and Byrne said they told Byrne\u2019s parents the boy had a cold.<\/p>\n

Baptist reportedly only gave the toddler burn cream, Tylenol and aloe vera. Byrne\u2019s parents offered to take the boy to urgent care but he lied and said that it was closed and the victim was \u201cgetting better,\u201d court documents said.<\/p>\n

Police said the couple hid the injuries from the boy\u2019s biological father and Byrne threatened to kill the father if he showed up.<\/p>\n

Court documents said Byrne searched the internet for \u201cskin condition\u201d and saw there was sepsis and told police, \u201cI was like, I don\u2019t know, that could be it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Sentencing for Tesla arson suspect rescheduled for August<\/a><\/p>\n

He also searched for first-degree burns and second-degree burns, investigators said. Baptist\u2019s internet history showed she searched for burn cream, court documents said.<\/p>\n

Byrne admitted to the police that the boy ran a fever, threw up and didn\u2019t walk again after the burns, police said.<\/p>\n

Investigators said the boy developed sepsis and suffered a slow, painful decline until he died April 12.<\/p>\n

Investigators said the pair moved from their home in Mesa to Baptist\u2019s brother\u2019s home a week before the arrest.<\/p>\n

Baptist and Byrne were booked into jail on one count of first-degree murder and one count of child abuse. Both are being held on $1 million cash-only bond.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i>Please click here to report it<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i>it to us here<\/i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Mistrial declared in Ian Mitcham sentencing phase<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Mesa woman and her boyfriend are facing felony chargers after a toddler suffered severe burns and never got the medical care he needed and died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nMesa couple face murder charges after toddler dies due to burns - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1051\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mesa couple face murder charges after toddler dies due to burns - 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